660 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Nov. 1 



General 

 Correspondence 



HIVES. 



Size, Shape, and Methods of Manipulation 



the All-important Factors in 



Choosing a Hive. 



BY J. E. HAND. 



It must be evident to the careful readers 

 of the bee-journals of this country that the 

 tendency of the times is unmistakably toward 

 a larger brood- chamber than was afforded 

 by the eight-frame Langstroth hive of a few 

 years ago. It should be equally evident to 

 those who will take the time to digest what 

 they read that the question is no longer large 

 vs. small hives. Up-to-date bee-keepers have 

 known for several years that the snape of a 

 hive and its methods of manipulation are of 

 equal importance with the size of it, and they 

 are profiting by this knowledge by having 

 perfect control of their bees at all times, 

 while those who formerly advocated brood- 

 chambers that are wider than they are deep 

 are still laboring under the delusion that the 

 size of a hive is of more importance than its 

 shape, and their bees continue to fill up their 

 mammoth brood-chambers with honey that 

 the up-to-date bee-keeper is getting in his 

 sections, and are casting swarms in spite of 

 their claims of non-swarming hives. 



The object of this article is to tell the read- 

 ers of this journal that the eight-frame Lang- 

 stroth hive, when properly manipulated, 

 possesses every advantage claimed by the 

 advocate of the twelve-frame hive, in a much 

 higher degree of perfection, and, besides, 

 many other advantages of a highly desirable 

 character that can not be attained with a 

 twelve-frame hive on account of its size, 

 shape, and methods of manipulating, since 

 bees can be controlled only through their in- 

 stincts. 



Progressive bee-keepers have known for 

 a quarter of a century that perfect control of 

 bees is out of the question with a brood- 

 chamber the capacity of which exceeds the 

 fertility of the average queen. 



First in array comes the advocate of the 

 ten-frame hive, who, evidently realizing that 

 the word "location " is often used to cover a 

 multitude of extravagant theories, is willing 

 to compromise by trying to fit the man to the 

 hive, the hive to the man, and both to the lo- 

 cation. Now, these men are wise in their 

 day and generation; therefore, realizing the 

 difficulty of fitting a man to a pair of boots 

 two sizes too large, they are like the Irish- 

 man, who, on being reprimanded by his wife 

 for paying an exorbitant price for a very 

 small pig, replied, "Be aisy, Biddy, he'll 

 grow to it in toime." So these wise ones 

 propose to take the beginner and let him 



§rowupto the twelve-frame hive by degrees, 

 eginning with the eight-frame hive, which 

 he will soon outgrow, and must discard for a 



ten-frame which it will, in turn, soon be nec- 

 essary to discard for a twelve-frame hive, 

 when he may be considered a full-fledged 

 bee keeper. 



Next in order comes the twelve-frame-hive 

 man; and, whatever his other failings may 

 be, we must accord to him the credit of stand- 

 ing by his honest convictions. He tells us 

 that the eight and ten frame hives are both 

 entirely too small, and that the tendency of 

 the times is toward a large brood-chamber 

 having a capacity equal to twelve Langstroth 

 frames. His argument is quite convincing 

 to those who think the instincts of bees are 

 not worth considering. Here it is: Large- 

 brood-chamber hives like the Dadant, being 

 of a sufficient size to accommodate the fer- 

 tility of the best queens, will contain more 

 bees than the smaller eight and ten frame 

 hive, and will, therefore, give a larger yield 

 of surplus honey; and, being so large, they 

 are less inclined to swarm, and will produce 

 a paying crop of honey with very little ma- 

 nipulation. Even our staid old friend Dr. 

 Miller has been sorely tempted by the elo- 

 quence of the large- hive advocates. I am 

 perfectly willing to concede that the twelve- 

 frame hive is none too large during the breed- 

 ing season; but further than that I can't go. 



Tt shall be my aim in this article to fit the 

 boot to the foot; in other words, the hive to 

 the man, and also to explode the groundless 

 theory that there is no best hive for all loca- 

 tions. 



When bee-keepers learn that bees can be 

 controlled only through their instincts, and 

 that instincts of bees are not materially chang- 

 ed by location, they will be in position to un- 

 derstand that a hive and system that gives 

 us perfect control of our bees in one location 

 will be likely to do it in another. From this 

 point of view it is easy to see that there may 

 be such a thing as a best hive for all loca- 

 tions. While I do not claim perfect swarm 

 control for the eight- frame hive, yet this hive, 

 when properly manipulated, will approach 

 this high ideal more closely than either the 

 ten or twelve frame hive. 



Birmingham, Ohio. 



To be continued. 



NECTAR FROM RED CLOVER. 



Theories of How Bees Are Able to Get it; 



Passageways Through the Combs 



During th*e Winter. 



BY ADRIAN GETAZ. 



Gleanings is at hand with many interest- 

 ing items to which I desire to add my mite 

 of information. 



In regard to bees gathering nectar on red 

 clover, several opinions have been advanc- 

 ed. Generally it is supposed that, owing to 

 drier weather, the second crop has blossoms 

 with shorter corollas, and that the bees can 

 reach the nectar on that account. Another 

 theory is that, in wet weather, or, rather, 

 when the ground is sufficiently wet, the nec- 

 tar is more abundant, and fills up the corol- 



